Traveling-crane mechanism



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1. L. R. LEMOINE.

TRAVELING CRANE MECHANISM.

No. 431,000. Patented June (No Model.) I s Sheets-Sheet 2. L. R.LEMOINE.

TRAVELING GRANE MECHANISM.

No. 431,000. Patented June 24, l890 WITNESSES:

INVENTOR (No Model.) 3 Shets-Sheet 3. L. R. LEMOINE.

TRAVELING GRANE MECHANISM. No. 431,000. Patented June 24, 1000.

WITNESSES: P 'INVENTOR UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS R. LEMOINE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

TRAVELING-GRAN E M ECHAN ISM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 431,000, dated June 24,1890. Application filed February 14, 1890. {serial No. 840,501. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, Louis B. LEMOINE, of the city and county ofPhiladelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in 'lraveling-Orane Mechanism, of which the following is atrue and exact description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention, in general, is well adapted and contrived for combinationwith such overhead-travelingbridge-cranesas havetheir movable workingpart or parts (bridges, trolleys, and hoisting and lowering or lift 1mechanism) actuated one or all from one or more relatively fixed primemovers or engines, whether steam, hydraulic, or what not, said enginesbeing equipped with transmitting and regulating devices (say lines ofshafting or wire ropes and valves, throttles, &c.) and their immediategear. However, it being especially applicable to such of these cranes asin the more recent developments thereof are actuated by one or morefixedhydraulic ram or rams, it is hereinafter more particularly described inthat connection as its most apt mode of illustration rather than asthereby particularly limiting its scope.

More especially my invention relates to the 0 framing and mechanism thattransmit the crane-drivers movements of control to the regulatingdevices of the motor mechanism of such overhead-traveling cranes, aswell as define the position or positions assumable by 5 thecrane-driverin manipulating the same; but in order to more clearly disclose thefield within which my invention lies it will be necessary, beforepassing to the illustrative description thereof, to state thatheretofore overhead-traveling cranes have usually been 0perated withmore or less success in one or other of the following ways, viz: first,either from a fixec pulpit, as it is called, in which-much after themanner of a railwayswitchman in an interlocking switch-towerthecrane-driver, usually by throw-levers, or, if at a distance, bypull-cord, shipper-bars, I &c., controls the belts, clutches, &c., ofthe transmitting devices connecting-gear or the valves orconduit-throttle, brakes, 850., of the crane-motor itself, and soproduces the desired change, Whether from rest or motion, or when inmotion, in direction, velocity, &c., in the actual working parts of thecrane; second, otherwise, and especially where the range of travel isgreat, the approved practice has been to carry upon or suspend from thecranes traveling bridge a cage. In this the crane-driver is carried, andto it are operatively connected the mechanisms which serve to transmithis movements of control to the prime mover or to its force-transmittingmechanisms, thus causing them to be brought in or out of gear with thecranes working parts, and so to start, stop, reverse, &c., the same, or,third, from the floor of the foundry or other building or place Wherethe crane may be erected. Now, these fixed pulpits and bridge-carriedcages subject the crane to evils, some of which they share and some ofwhich evils are peculiar to the enjoyment of one or other of thesedevices, so that to rely on one as the antidote for the ills of theothers practice is but to seekthe secondhorn of a dilemma, viz: If thepulpitbe the theater of control and the range of bridge travel be great,itmay well be that, despite the central or mean location of the pulpitbetween the termini of said bridges travel, intervening mechanism, &c.,of the shop or yard in which the crane is located may obscure thecrane-drivers View, or else the distance to which the bridge has gone(half or less, though it be, of its total travel) is yet so great as tomake the crane-drivers vision of its workings unreliable. Thuspredicated his resource becomes conning by assistants, who shout orsignal directions as to the travel of the bridge, the traverse (lateralmovement) of the trolley, or the hoisting or lowering of the crane liftor purchasetackle, and so, by the variety of the duty as well as thedistance intervening and the multiplicity of minds and signals involved,there arise in practice frequent cases of miscontrol, and from theseflow accidents to the crane or its load and at times loss of life orlimb to its attendants. So, too, with the bridge-carried cage, thecrane-driver is here often borne, will he, nill he, in or out of view ofthe place where or machine on which he wishes to take up, remove, orcarry to and place his cranes load; and this sort of caged control,

ICO

while it automatically brings the crane-driver from any starting-pointon the craneway, however distant, and keeps him always near his load,(where he can the better hear and see signals that are to con him,) yetit more frequently than the pulpit, by reason of the cages'elevation andclose proximity associations with the bridge may give, for

if the movement of control which the driver desires to impart to it bein the direction in which the bridge to which his cage is attached isthen going it becomes very difficult for him to impart a precise amountof motion,or any, without a jerk. Again, in traveling in the oppositedirection there is a change of conditions, and experience gained frommotions of control made in one direction of cage travel is but of littleuse for controlling when traveling in the opposite direction. So a thirdconditionthat of restproduces still greater confusion, and thus thedriver is, between the signals of his assistants and the vices of hisapparatus, in a vexatious position, and while electric and pneumatictransmitting devices may be employed to relieve the structure from theselatter ills by reason of their flexibility, and the slack conditions inwhich their conduits may act, these devices are more elaborate, requiregreater care, and are, compared with the pull-cord or equivalentpositive connection between the regulator and crane drivers manipulatingpoint, of uncertain and complicated character, and so less. desirable.Moreover, if led to a bridge-carried cage, even such flexibleslack-transmitters in no way assist the crane-driver to an unobstructedsidewise view of what he is doing with the cranes load, and,finally, theleading to and passage of an operating pull-cord along or in closeproximity to the floor over which the crane ranges, as above alluded toin the third of the enumerated ordinary ways of putting the crane-driverin connection with the controlling in-and-out-of-gear connections, is soObviously subject to the criticism of being hopelessly in the way,inartificial, and inapplicable to shops and places which havetraveling-crane plants that, dismissing it summarily, I nowstate,without further recitation of existing evils, that my invention,broadly speaking, consists, first, in giving to the cranedriver agallery, gangway, or free passage substantially coextensivewith therangeof bridgetravel, and, preferably, also with that of the traverse(bridge-crossing movement) of the trolley, along which gang-way thecrane-driver can'range independently of a fixed single pulpit-station ora bridge-carried cage; second, in equipping such gallery, whose locationis to be the best which the circumstances of construction,location, andassociation with other structures will permit of for a general clearobservatory, with a diffused mechanism for control, which mechanism maybe so fashioned as to be a single mechanism coextensive with the thusextended range of the cranedriver, or of a systematically-distributedseries of mechanisms of manipulation and control ranged along it atconvenient intervals; and, referring now to the illustrative case Figurel is an end elevation, given partly in section and interrupted, of ahydraulicallyactuated overhead-travelin g crane embodying my invention.Fig. 2 is a plan view of a fragment of the structure shown in Fig. 1,theparts omitted being the transverse gallery and motor mechanisms. Fig. 3is a diagram showing in plan the location and rigging of the preferredsystem of hydraulic hauling and lift mechanisms for the craneillustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, as well as itself illustrating amodification, wherein two bridges are so equipped and arrangedtandem-wise upon the same line of overhead ways. Fig. 4 is also adiagram showing in plan the location and rigging of the preferred dualsystem of hydraulic-ram trolley-traversin g mechanisms for the saidcrane and tandem modification thereof. Figs.

, 5 and 5 are respectively an end and a side elevation of amodification; Fig. 5 a crosssectional detail of a reducing-valve upon anenlarged scale. Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating in side elevation thepreferred relative location of the main operating-gallery, with itsequipment of controlling mechanism, the adjoining overhead way, and abridge end and bridge-hauling ram. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of afragment, showing amodia OS fication of the operatingallerysmot-or-controlling mechanism; also, an adjustably-securablegallery-supporting bracket. Figs. 8 and 9 are respectively side and endelevations ,of a preferred form of manipulating device for amotor-controlling station upon the operatinggallery. Fig. 10 is amodification wherein the gallery-controlling mechanism is transmitted,and leads to a valvecenter isolated from the motors it regulates. Fig.11 is a fragmentary interrupted diagram in plan to illustrate thepreferred grouping and distribution of a series of gallery-operatingstations for a two-bridge tandem crane; also, by its solid lines, thisfigure shows a more restricted gallery range, while its dotand-dashoutline denotes a completely continuous marginal operatingallery. Fig.12 isacentral fragment in end View of a further modification, whereintwo parallel and adjoining or duplex overhead cranes have anintermediate common operating-gallery.

In general,in the figures, O O are the over-.

head ways; 0 0, the columnar supports thereof; B, the bridge spanningthe ways and adapted to run lengthwise thereon upon truck-wheels b b bb.

T is the trolley, of which tttt are the truckwheels, for which thebridge across tracks 0 O afford a traverse guideway.

E is the lift-fall block, whereof ff are the sheaves and f the hook.

S is the bridge-squaring shaft, which, by means of the racks 38, (seeend sections thereof, Fig. 1,) lying parallel and close to the ways 0 O,the rack-engaging pinions s s, rotatably journaled to the inner sides ofthe bridge-truck brackets S S, and said shafts fixed terminal pinion-intermeshing spurwheels 8 8 transmits whatever lateral movement may bedeveloped at one end of .said bridge equally to the other.

G is the operating-gallery, which, in the crane illustrated in Fig. 1,is extended not only along the whole of one side of the O erhead-waysupports, but also across one end of said ways. This gallery may,however, be of less or greater extent (see Fig. 11) without departingfrom the spirit of my present invention, and if, as in said latterfigure, it affords a range of operating positions independent of thebridge or bridges of the crane a single gallery may serve forcontrolling two bridges, &c.; or even, as illustrated by the fragmentshown in Fig. 12, but a single gallery may be located intermediate tothe two adjoining parallel overhead ways of a duplex crane. Inconstruction I prefer to fashion this gallery as shown in Figs. land2viz., of a footway or grating g, hand-rail g, sup ported by brackets g9 said support-s being either permanently secured to the overhead waysat such relative height as might just afford head room beneath thebridge to the operator, and in this respectl also preferably secure itthereto with vertical adjustability.

This further preferred modification is illustrated in Fig. 7, where agallery-bracket is shown having eye -s0ckets g g and a setscrew gwhereby it might be attached at any desired altitude on the shaft of thecolumnar overhead-way support 0, along which its said sockets areotherwise free to slide. To adapt the other chief element of myinvention to such adjustability of the gallery, I contrive that thevertical connections between the shipper and the part it controls shallbe susceptible of the like adj ustability. This is also illustratedinFig. 7, where a rocking shipper 109 carries a toothed sector Q, which,on being intermeshed at any desired altitude upon the rack-work w ofthevalve-gear, connected pitman w affords such op erati ve con necti onwith a motor-regulator as my present invention demands. However, beforepassing to the details and modifications of the shipper and itsconnections, the motor mechanism of the sort of crane to which myinvention is especially applicable should be first briefly described tomakethecombinations which I etfecttherewi th clear. Said motor mechanismconsists of a system of hydraulic rams, the rams of which are severallyequipped with, first, supply and escape conduits, designated 0 and (Z,respecta ively, connecting them (the rams) with accumulator or waterheadconduit 0 and wastewater drain D, (see Fig. 1;) second, valves V andtheir immediately-associated valve-gear U, constituting the regulatingdevices of the said rams, and preferably, also, though it is only soillustrated at V, Fig. 5, with reducing-valves controlling the area ofthe supplyeonduits, which valves serve, on being moved, tocorrespondingly modify their ramss plunger speed, for these valves,having a limited amount of movement permitted to them-as by the ad justably-protruded abutment screws shown at either end of the valve-leversare- 3 shaped yoke in the example, Fig. 5 are, as is readily understood,and, therefore, not further explained, contrived never to wholly cut offthe supply, but merely operative when thrown to one side or other, asshown, to reduce the area or gate opening from the main conduit, towhich, when in their intermediate or normal position of lever, theyoffer no restriction whatever; third, as aforcetransmitting mechanism,with tackles, consisting of relatively fixed and ram-plungercarriedpulleys P P and P P, respectively, over the sheaves p p of which pulleysa wire rope or ropes 7i i r after being passed is at one end made fastor anchored, and the other, as a whip or running part, carried from suchspeed-generating, or, as it generally is called invented rigging, to andover guidepulleys 13 that lead it to the movable part, (bridge, &c.,) towhich such particular ropes motor is attached, as hereinafter described.

Now, said actuation of the movable working partsapart from thecrane-drivers control through the gallery-led shipper device, thedescription of which latter is postponed to the present, as it were,introductory and explanatory 1natteris, in said crane, accomplished asfollows:

First. For the travel of each bridge or bridgesfor there may be morethan oneby locating at either terminus and at equal and near distancesfrom the same side of the overhead way, a pair of equal single-actingand vertically'disposed hydraulic rams H H, (see Figs. 1 and 3,) thehauling ropes h h of whose tackle have their aforesaid running endspassed vertically upward over a guidepulley p and thence carried to andattached opposite each other, as by the eyebolts b b, fixed to the sidebody of the bridge; for, although these ropes are applied unilaterally,the bridge-squaring mechanism S s 8 8 s s 5, above described, preventsbinding and causes the bridge to preserve a correct alignment.

Second. For raising and lowering the liftfall block E of such bridge orbridges a single ram R, of substantially similar disposition andequipment to either of bridgehaulin g rams H H, is located near to oneor other of said latter rams. Its ropes running end being led by anotheradjoining guide-pulley p is thence forwarded to avertically-pivotedbridge-carried pulley p and thereby passed inward and crosswise upon thebridge B to a horizontally-pivoted trolley-borne guide-pulley p thencedownward under the first fallblock sheave f, again upward and overtrolley-pulley 19 which leads it in a prolongation of its former courseupon the bridge to the opposite end thereof. Thence this hoisting-rope(or ropes, if more than one be used, as is the best practice for safety)is then by pulleys 10 p 9 passed parallel to its former or ingoingcourse, and so outward to and in a prolongation of its original overheadway route outward and made fast to an anchor J, located at or ratherjust beyond the further terminus of the overhead way 0.

Third. For traversing the trolley T singleacting paired rams T T, actingin opposition, are employed. These, for economy of floor room, areplaced horizontally in line with the ways 0 0 upon the superstructure,but at adjoining opposite corners thereof. Their equipment of conduits,valves, and inverted purchase-rigging, being substantially similar tothose of the hauling and lift systems aforesaid, save the running part iof their rigging passing directly forward to the bridge end, is thererun in loops about three guidepulleys p p 19 pivoted vertically to thebridge and trolley ends, respectively, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 4,and then each passed onward coextensively along the adjoining overheadway to an anchorage J, opposite the rams from which they respectivelyoriginated.

Now, resuming the description of the cranedrivers motor-controllingmechanism, the gallery G contrived and extended, as above described,about the crane. I further equip for the purpose of affording thecrane-drive means of controlling such a system of motor mechanism or itsequivalent whether said gallery applied to cranes having a single bridgeor two or more bridges arranged tandem-wise or in adjoining duplexcranes, pref- 'erably as follows: With a longitudinally-extendingendwise-movable shipper such as either of the wires w w 10 Fig. 1, whichseverally repose upon the sheaves of guide-pulleys V located atconvenientintervals along the gallery hand-rail, and so extend not onlycoextensively along it, but, as by other terminal guide-pulleys VV arepassed therefrom to the valve-stem 0 or other ordinary immediatevalve-controlling gear U, with which the motor is regulated in itsmovements and arrests, the slack of such wire being taken up and itsquick response to the drivers actuation being promoted by the device ofauxiliary tension-cords w, spliced to or branching from the ends of thehorizontal runs of the shipper part proper, said tension-cords beingattached to depending counterpoise-weights W W (See Figs. 1, 5, and 6.)Otherwise, instead of a wire or flexible pull cord, a rigid throw-rod orshipper-bar, as 10 Figs. 5 and 5**, may be employed, and, as by thebell-cranks w and pitman-links w, Fig. 5, operatively and positivelyconnected to the valve or valve-gear of the ram or other motor. So, too,as another modification illustrated in Fig. 7, the drivers movements ofcontrol may be transmitted from any point along the range of the galleryG, by equipping its guard-rail stanchions with bearing-apertures M andintermediate tubular bushings M, a square or polygonal rock-shaft w",said shaft carrying at a proper part a device like the toothed sector Q,for intermeshing with the rack-work w of a pitman-link pivoted to, say,the hauling-ram valve-gear U, for said shaft 10 byits polygonalcross-section affords a fair and ready hearing at any part for amanipulating wrench or key K, and by it may be actuated at any placealong the gallery of the crane; also, without departing from the purviewof my invention, such flexible and easily dirigible transmittingdevices, even as electric or pneumatic conduits, (say, copper .wire' andindia-rubber tube, respectively,)

may be employed by simply carrying their operating ends equipped withtheir respective and ordinary manipulating devices to any part of mygallery and there employ them to transmit the crane-drivers movements ofcontrol to electrically or pneumatically actuated valve-gearing, &c.Indeed, it here need only be added that while any of such mechanisms maybe employed to elfect control at a plurality of points along the galleryI prefer the more positive mechanical sort, such as I have justgiventypical illustrations of and also, that I prefer to provide suchpositive ones at those points upon the gallery which convenience andexperience suggest as the most frequently assumed by the crane-driverwith fixed manipulating outfits, as stations. Such outfit is illustratedin Figs. 8 and 9. Here the function of the throw-levers L L L each oneof which is pivoted to a gallery-gudgeon N at its lower and T-shaped endZ Z, is on being rocked from a central or mean position forward or back,as indicated in broken lines, to depress one and raise the other oftheir pivoted draglinks Z Z, and these by their further pivotalconnections to the shaft fixed cranks c c c to thereby correspondinglyrock their shippers 10 10 10 20 w 10 in pairs, this paired arrangementbeing preferred because it is desirable in the illustrated case to bethus able to actuate either, first, the supply and escape valves of asingle unpaired rammotor, as that of the lift R, simultaneously and inopposite direction-that is, one closing as the other opens, and viceversa-or, second, and in similar simultaneous fashion, the supply andescape valves of the conj ointly-actin g, yet widely-distant, pairedrams, such as those of the bridge and trolley systemsviz., of rams H Hor T T for both of which purposes the opposite, yet equal, an-

gular throw produced in the shipper-shafts 20 20 on any movement oftheir connected lever-handle L is manifestly well adapted, theirconnection to the valves being, say, by such gearing as the toothedsector Q and .pitman-rack. (Shown in Fig. 7.) Also, de-

spite some loss in the nicety with which such outfits when they are usedenable the cranedriver to impart his movements, such concurrentactuation, even of such widely-sepa rated motors as the bridge-haulingrams H H, Fig. 3, may also be effected by terminal attachment ofunelaborated gallery-passed shipperssay the pull-cords wfor whichpurpose the ends of any one of which shippers, being led and secured tothe supply and escape valves, respectively, of paired rams, serves toconnect at least that pairs valves conversely and operatively. Moreover,if such shippers connection with the ram-regulator be by a suitableintermediate linkage, such as that illustrated in Fig. 1, (a weightedrocklever u, pivoted intermediate to valve-stems '0 'v, to which it isalso pivotal] y connected,) each end of a single shipper may control aplurality of valves; but if equipped with lever outfits, as aboveillustrated, the intermediate or vertical position of each hand-lever,as shown in Fig. 8, is advisedly selected for the 'one for the levers toassume when they (through their transmitting shipperconnections thenoftering to the opposing-rams of each pair equal valve openings) shallmaintain the working parts connected therewith in equilibrium. For theconstant tension thus produced and continuously maintained in allperiods of rest throughout the force transmitting and moving parts ofthe bridge, traveling and trolley traversing systems materially aids thestarting of them in either direction with both quickness and freedomfrom jerk, and thereby renders bridge and trolley movements entirelysympathetic with their shipper-levers throws. Moreover, while thelift-ram R is a single one, it is to be remembered that with it theWeight of the fallblock alone is generally sufficient to keep not onlyits rigging taut, but also to run back any protruded portion of itsplunger in response to the opening of its escape, and that a lifted loadof any sort further increases such state of affairs, and, in point offact, acts in opposition.

Of course the rams of the crane may be contrived to be double-acting andarranged to rotate a winding-drum instead of fall-tackle, or eventransmit their force by shafts and gearing to the moving parts; but suchmodification being of detail .not essential to my present invention neednot here be described, and pointing out, first, that in Fig. 11, Zdenotes the equipment of a two-bridge tandem cranes operating-gallery G,with an operating outfit and transmitting or shipper mechanism Whereverit occurs for one of the bridges, &c., thereon, and Y a similar station,&c., for the other bridge thereof; and,second, that in Fi 12, Z and Ydenote similar stations and equ1pment for the intermediate gallery of aduplex crane.

I now conclude by stating that what I desire to secure by Letters Patentof the United States, and hereby claim, is

1. In an overhead-traveling crane, the combination of an elevatedoperating-gallery and a shipper device or devices operative from alongsaid gallery, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbeforedescribed.

2. In an overhead-traveling crane, the combination of the overhead ways,a stationary motor mechanism, a motor-regulating device or devices, anoperating-gallery, a shipping.

device or devices operatively connected to and passing from saidmotor-regulating device or devices, and a plurality of manipulatingdevices for each of said shipper device or devices arranged at intervalsin a series along said gallery, substantially as and for the purposeshereinbefore described.

In an overheadtraveling crane, the combination of the overhead ways, apair or pairs of stationary motors, the individual members of which pairor pairs being adapted to work in opposition, as described, amotor-regulating device or devices for each individual motor of saidpair or pairs, and a shipper device or devices operatively connectingthe said motor-regulating device or devices in converse pairedconnection, and thence extended to and throughout an operatingallerybordering said cranes range of transportation, substantially as and forthe purposes hereinbefore described.

l. I11 an overhead-t-ravelin g crane, the combination of an overheadway, a movable working part mounted thereon, a hydraulic motorramoperatively connected to said working part, as ram H, said ram havingconduit and drain, a ram-regulating device consisting of supply andescape valves, an operating-gallery bordering upon said Working partsrange of action along said overhead way, and a shipper deviceoperatively connecting said valves with said gallery, substantially asand for the purposes hereinbefore described.

LOUIS R. LEMOINE. WVitnesses:

LEWIS R. DICK, J OSHUA MATLAOK, J r.

